


Winter Stars

by theladyscribe



Category: Greek Mythology
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-20
Updated: 2013-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-05 07:38:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1091315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theladyscribe/pseuds/theladyscribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They loved each other, in the way that siblings do, and Apollo loved his sister better than any.</p><p>Perhaps he loved her too much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winter Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [plantagenet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/plantagenet/gifts).



> Title is from the poem by the same name by Sara Teasdale. Many many thanks to tielan for the beta.

Apollo watched his sister and her hunters, could see the way that Orion watched her. Far worse, he could see the way she watched Orion. Where his sister was usually cold and calculating, when she watched Orion, a warmth flushed her face, one that Apollo himself knew quite intimately.

He wished to quell that look, or perhaps to claim it for his own.

Apollo the bright sun, gleaming gold to his sister's silver, archer second only to her. They had grown up together, chasing each other across the Earth's surface. They loved each other, in the way that siblings do, and Apollo loved his sister better than any.

Perhaps he loved her too much.

He saw how she favored Orion, how night after night the two of them chased the deer through the woods, never tiring, never lagging, laughter bubbling between them as they reveled in the race.

He saw, and he burned with jealousy.

And so he devised a plot. It was frightful in its simplicity. One evening, just before dusk, he stopped Orion and bid him give chase after a beast far to the west.

"My sister said she will follow soon after," he said, brilliant smile guileless even as the evening waned.

Not one to gainsay his gods, Orion acquiesced and sprinted west without pause.

Artemis came to Apollo not long after. "My hunter, have you seen him?"

He shook his head. "Nay, sister mine. But there is a beast far to the west. Do you see it?" He indicated the distant running figure of Orion.

"It moves with great speed," she observed.

"Aye. I tried to catch it for sport, but I fell just short." He smiled, and if there was a shadow to it, well, that was just the shade of twilight. "Perhaps you would like to take your chance at it?"

Artemis smirked as she raised her bow. "In a single shot, dear brother."

She selected an arrow from her quiver and drew her bow. She let the arrow fly, and she never missed her mark. In the far distance, the beast fell.

"Shall we?" she asked, turning back to Apollo.

"After you."

It took them little time to reach the creature, and when they arrived in the glade where it fell, Artemis frowned. "It was a man," she said, coming to stand over it.

She turned him with her foot, rolling him onto his back. When she saw his face, she opened her mouth in a soundless wail. She fell to her knees and pressed her hand to Orion's face, checking for even the faintest breath of life. It was hopeless; she was too good, and she knew it.

"What have you done?" she asked her brother. "How could you do this to me?"

"I--" He faltered at the look of mixed horror and anger on Artemis' face. "You have taken vows of chastity," he said at last. "I only sought to help you keep them."

She stared at him as if she could read the lie on his face. She took a deep breath and Apollo watched as the anger gave way to cold determination, her face impassive as a statue.

"My actions should be no concern of yours," she said as she stood. "You would do well to remember that."

She stalked away, her back straight as she left the glade.

*

Artemis went to Hades.

"What brings you here?"

"I have come to beg a boon, Uncle."

"A boon? Of what sort?" he asked, though by her drawn face he could hazard a guess.

Artemis looked away. "There is a shade here I wish to return to life."

"You know that I cannot grant you that, my dear niece," Hades rumbled.

"I know that you have granted it to mortals before," she returned.

"You also know very well that a mortal asking a boon of such nature is quite different from one of us asking the same."

She glanced away. "May I see him then? Grant me that, at least."

Something in Hades' gaze softened. "What was his name?"

"Orion."

Hades closed his eyes. "Ah, yes. He is in the Elysian Fields. You may go to him. You may even speak to him, if you so wish."

He indicated for one of his servants to escort Artemis to the fields. She followed the manservant, trying not to stare at the shades they passed. She had never been to the halls of Hades before; she had never had a reason to see the land of the Dead until now. It felt like Earth on a dark night, when the stars were far distant and the shadows oppressive. A grey light hung over all of it, and she briefly wondered what her brother would say of it.

He would probably hate the place even more than she did. She hoped he found himself visiting soon.

At last, they reached the Fields, and there was Orion, bow in hand as he stalked through the grey world, alike and yet so unlike himself.

"Orion!" she cried, and the many shades turned as one toward her voice. Orion himself gazed steadily at her, eyes betraying no emotion, no recognition.

She stepped closer to him. "Can he speak?" she asked the servant.

"Only if he is given a taste of life."

She took her favorite hunting knife and sliced her thumb, offering it to Orion. He clasped her hand and pressed grey lips to her finger. Color bloomed across his face, muted, but brighter than anything else in this place.

"My lady," he gasped.

Artemis allowed herself a smile. "My love," she answered.

"How did I come to be here?" he asked.

"You do not remember?"

Orion frowned. "I was hunting. There was a bright pain. And then, nothing."

Artemis looked away. "I will not lie to you; you were killed by my hand."

"It was my time, then?"

Artemis shook her head vehemently. "Apollo tricked me. You -- I did not know it was you." She lifted her eyes to meet his. "I hoped to bring you back, but I cannot," she confessed. "I'm sorry."

Orion dropped his bow and took her hands in his. She tried not to shiver at their coldness. "My lady, you know the Fates have already decided our ends."

"But you were mine to protect and to love."

He smiled. "And so I was."

"I'll come to you every day."

Orion shook his head. "My lady, you know you can't do that."

Artemis closed her eyes against her grief. "But what shall I do, without you by my side?"

"What you have always done -- hunt the wild deer." He let her hands go and brushed a palm against her face. She leaned into the touch, wishing the chill would numb her heart as well as her cheek. On impulse, she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, allowing her hot tears to fall against his rapidly cooling face.

"You'll forget me as soon as I leave," she said softly.

He sighed against her mouth. "So I will, but you will remember me. And that will be enough."

Artemis kissed him again, until his lips had faded back to the same gray of the rest of the Land of the Dead. His face once again had the steady blankness of death.

"Goodbye, my love," she whispered as she stepped away.


End file.
